"My wife asked me to bring this to bribe you," Li Zhengguo said arrogantly, watching Dr. Yang examine the ginseng back and forth.
Bribe him? Dr. Yang guessed it wouldn't be anything good. "Is there something difficult again?"
Li Zhengguo explained the scheme his sweetie had devised for his sister to break off her engagement.
"...When the time comes, we'll send her to you. You must publicly declare that she will have a scar on her face and might be infertile."
Dr. Yang gently put down the ginseng in his hand and then angrily pointed at him, scolding, "You're simply inhumane! Are you trying to ruin Li Min's entire life by doing this?"
"You're wrong, we are trying to save her."
Li Zhengguo then described the personalities of everyone in the Tian family. "Tell me, in a family like that, can a woman without schemes or strength survive?"
"But didn't your little wife survive in the Tian family for over ten years?"
"Wasn't she swapped and sent to the mountains? And you haven't seen how thin and small she is, haven't you heard?"
Mentioning Tiantian's small stature, Li Zhengguo's face filled with distress. "What we're doing will only bring the Tian family a bad reputation. Besides, my sister said... is she right?"
"After you reveal my sister's two flaws, if any man still wants to marry her, he's either truly in love or a scoundrel. We can distinguish between true love and scoundrels."
"But if you break it off on your side, they'll surely break it off on their side too. Your little wife..."
"We plan to use money to settle this."
"I don't have money," Dr. Yang immediately waved his hand, pointing at the ginseng. "Take this and sell it? I'll help you with this favor."
"You really don't want it?" Li Zhengguo looked at him teasingly.
"I really don't." Dr. Yang decided not to fall for it. There was no such thing as a free lunch, and he'd be a fool to believe him.
"Then let me ask you, how much can one like this, complete with root and tail, sell for on the black market?"
"There's another one?"
Dr. Yang widened his cloudy eyes. One was already rare, and this fellow actually managed to get two?
"I'm just asking about the price so I know how much this bare one is worth," Li Zhengguo didn't answer directly.
Hmph, trying to play games with him, Dr. Yang glanced at him and picked up the ginseng.
"Look at the root bowl and the texture marks, this is at least a thirty-year-old ginseng. But the aroma suggests more, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it has the medicinal effect of nearly fifty years. On the black market, it would sell for at least six hundred, otherwise, don't bother selling it."
"Then, please help me process this one!"
There really was another one? So his refusal just now was a loss? Dr. Yang's face contorted with regret as he tugged at his beard.
Seeing Dr. Yang's pained expression, Li Zhengguo's mood lifted. "Half the processing fee. I'm leaving. Remember what you promised me."
"Remember, remember." Hearing that he'd be left with half, Dr. Yang's face broke into a smile. "Hurry up and leave, and don't come around unnecessarily."
Li Zhengguo: "..." Who would come looking for a doctor like him for no reason.
...
The next morning, Tian Jing woke up early, carrying her washbasin and toiletries, and rushed into the kitchen. She asked Li Min, who was squatting by the stove tending the fire, "What are we eating this morning?"
"Steamed pumpkin," Li Min smiled at her sister-in-law, who had rarely woken up so early. She must have been afraid she'd make slippery noodles again.
As expected, Tian Jing breathed a sigh of relief when she heard it was steamed pumpkin. "Steam two. I'll teach you a new dish later."
"Okay," Li Min got up to get the pumpkin from the main room. The one in the pot had just been put in, and adding another would be fine.
Tian Jing confidently scooped hot water to wash up. Seeing the third sieve already drying outside, Tian Jing felt that keeping Li Min at home was a good idea. The woman was diligent and proactive. In the future, she'd do the talking, and Li Min would do the work. A perfect match.
The semi-dried kudzu starch was mixed with the freshly cooked pumpkin flesh. Under Tian Jing's direction, the pumpkin dough was kneaded.
Wash the pot, dry it, and add oil.
Watching Tian Jing scoop large chunks of lard into the pot, Li Min's mouth twitched. She tightly pursed her lips, enduring.
Tian Jing happily rolled the dough into balls and then flattened them. It felt good to eat delicious food without anyone stopping her.
"Low heat, low heat," seeing the lard had melted in the pot, Tian Jing quickly stopped Li Min from adding more firewood. "Fry on low heat."
Since it was already a done deal, Li Min no longer felt the pinch. She controlled the firewood under the stove, washed her hands, and came to help.
Tian Jing had originally intended to scoop half a enamel basin of lard into the pot. Seeing Li Min's resigned expression, she showed some restraint and only used half. The current oil depth would allow her to fry six or seven at a time.
When the first batch was fried, Tian Jing tasted it herself. The flavor was not bad. The starch was lacking, but the sweetness of the pumpkin compensated for it.
"How does it taste?"
Li Min looked at Tian Jing expectantly. It should be delicious, right? She hadn't eaten fried food in years.
"Can't you taste it yourself?"
Tian Jing blew on the pumpkin pancake in her hand. She had swished that mouthful around in her mouth many times before swallowing. It was too hot.
"I..." Looking at the pumpkin pancakes in the large bowl, Li Min swallowed her saliva. "I'll wait for the second batch. Sister-in-law, you eat first."
Tian Jing picked one up and put it in her mouth. "Eat up. Eat as you fry. Take a few to your mother and tell your elder brother to wait for the second batch."
Li Min's mouth was scalded, and she quickly took the pumpkin pancake out. "Sister-in-law, are you trying to kill me for my fortune?"
"I wish I could, but where is your fortune?" Tian Jing gave her a sideways glance. "Hurry up, I'm about to scoop the second batch. Come back quickly and roll the dough; it'll be hard to roll when it cools."
Li Min, holding a pumpkin pancake in one hand and eating it, and carrying a bowl in the other, went to the main room. She vaguely called out to Li Zhengguo, who was working by the roadside, "Elder brother, come back for dinner."
Li Mother saw the pumpkin pancakes and asked her daughter in a low voice, "Fried? How much oil did you use?"
"Half a basin, the enamel basin we use for oil," Li Min said, still feeling a bit pained.
Li Mother also took a deep breath and quickly changed her mind. "Don't nag her. Mother said that she's in charge of this household. If she dares to be so extravagant, she must have a way to sustain the family's livelihood."
"Your elder brother said he'd trade what she has to help you break off the engagement. For that reason alone, we'll do as she says, no matter what she wants to do. She wouldn't possibly exhaust all the food in the house and then run away, right?"
"The cost of her breaking off your engagement for you should be worth more than the food in the house. What is she doing this for? She's doing it for a simple, worry-free life like ours, and for the freedom it gives her. Don't you think so?"
Li Min nodded as she listened. Her mother was truly wise to have relinquished the authority of the household early on.
"Yes, yes. From now on, whatever sister-in-law asks me to do, I'll be the first to jump to it. Putting myself in her shoes, she didn't hold it against me even when I treated her that way at first."
"I'll listen to everything she says. She definitely won't harm me, otherwise, there would be no need for her to save me from the Tian family."